Bodine, William

William Washington Bodine was born on January 15, 1892 in New York . His father was also named William, he worked as a driver in a dairy company; mother's name was ella moran. William had two younger brothers: Harold, who also became a director, but much less famous; and Ted, who died with his father in 1905 from pneumonia ^[4] . In 1909, Bodine began his film career as an artist, joining the American Mutoscope and Biograph Company film studio. From 1911 he began working as an assistant director, from 1913 - as a screenwriter, and from 1915 - as a director. From 1915 he worked at the film studio Kalem Company . Later in 1916-1926, he worked at the studio , Metro Pictures , First National Pictures , Warner Bros. In the second half of the 1930s, he worked at the studio of 20th Century Fox , Paramount Pictures , Universal Pictures . In 1935–37 he lived in Great Britain, where he was invited (along with Raoul Walsh and Allan Dwon ) as an experienced director, and where he created several successful films. In the late 1930s, Bodine began to pursue trouble: there were no decent offers from large film studios; the bank in which he kept a large part of his savings has burst; a large amount had to be paid to the UK government in the form of taxes As a result, out of despair, since 1940, Bodine began directing low-budget B-films (his salary was about500 dollars a week), although he understood that it would spoil his reputation as a high-class and highly paid specialist. Indeed, for many years he became the director of such low-budget films, working mainly for the studio . It is noteworthy that in some cases it took a few days to create a feature film at Bodine, a record — a picture in five days. The authors of the book “ Fifty worst films of all times and peoples ” (1978), assessing the activities of Bodine of that period, gave the director the unflattering nickname “One-Double” ^[4] , as he rarely, in order to save, made duplicates, even if the actors forgot Role or did not work special effects.

Since 1951, Bodine became a director of television films and television series, and in the mid-1950s he was invited to work at the Walt Disney studio, where he shot several successful films ^[4] .

On October 17, 1914, he married a girl named Marguerite Fleisher and lived with her for fifty-five and a half years - until his death. His wife's sister was the mother of actor (1933–2008).

In 1960 he was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (Vine Street, 1777).

In 1968, due to health problems, William Bodine retired, the last two of his films were released several years after the director’s death. Bodine died on March 18, 1970 in Los Angeles from acute renal failure . Buried in the Hollywood Forever Cemetery.

Two films of Bodayn, “ Little Annie Rooney ” (1925) and “ ” (1945), were awarded a place in the archives of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences ^[5] .